Social Security Disability (not SSI) do you need a lawyer?

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I find that extremely frustrating. Because navigating the social system, in my experience, is degrading. They don't treat you well, you don't have access to the best doctors, you have to work to get your benefits. And you are treated like a second class citizen. At least it was in my case when I was transitioning out of foster care. They told me I was too disabled for them to place me in a job even though I was smart, passed all their tests, and learned to type. My boyfriend at the time, (now my husband) said forget them, we can do it and I didn't have much hope at all because I believed them, but we did it. He joined the military, we went through college, I was able to find work on my own (even though I did have trouble and was fired a couple of times) but we own our own house, have our own insurance and can make our own decisions about our care.

And here you have a smart woman with a college education and she has no hope. She's depressed hopeless, and it is shameful. She has skills! It makes me so mad that people with AS have a fifty percent unemployment rate. And the social system only makes you feel like your problems are your fault. That is just a huge loss of intelligent people for our economy who could be capable and thriving with just a little help in finding a right fit.

Without a lawyer, getting anywhere with SS is a joke. The system is designed to erect barriers to getting on the role. I don't know how the "board" might feel about having a lawyer, but they must rule on the issues, not their feelings, and if you are turned down with a lawyer, it's probably just a barrier tactic, and you could win on appeal (this happens more often than you might realize).

The bigger problem is if someone is being threatened to be kicked off SSI....then it's hard to get a lawyer. I suspect it's because in come cases, SS must pay the lawyer's fees. In other cases, the bill is your problem.

Go see a lawyer who specializes in SSI matters. He/She can tell you how the payment of legal fees goes and let you know what your options are.

I wish you luck in your endeavor.

I just want to say that some people on here are really mean. I'm trying to get SSI now too because I don't want to be a homeless person when my parents die. (It's really difficult and scary but it seems much smarter for me to go through hell for a couple of years than failing constantly for the next 40 years, & possibly drinking myself to death or committing suicide).

Some people don't seem to understand that people aren't lined up to make your life easier. I have had about a half a dozen jobs (for very short periods of time) and all of them involved large groups of people, a ton of coworkers barking at me all day, expecting me to memorize all of the actual job duties within a day or 2, memorize a new schedule every week, sometimes expected to flirt with customers (yeah, as a cashier), & incredibly long hours off the bat. Basically with my poor people skills I, or a family member, begged my way into those jobs and you have to take whatever you can get, especially in this economy.

So I stopped a while ago. I couldn't see how repeatedly getting and then not being able to stand and quitting jobs after a couple of weeks was helping me. All of that was before I even knew about this aspie thing, which I feel contributed to my social anxiety, and explains my short term memory.

I am on Social Security Disability. Long story short: get the lawyer. The system is designed NOT to inform you of it's intracacies (and there are MANY, MANY, MANY intracacies that a person could get fouled up in). A lawyer will be up to date on what needs to be done, when. YES, they WILL get about 1/3 of your "back claim" once you're approved. But w/out the lawyer, you will probably never get approved. And, with the whole (ponzi scheme) of Social Security going bankrupt.....(fill in the blank for yourself)

As for your Mother, it really is none of her business if you hire a lawyer, a doctor or a camel taxi...honestly. I've seen MANY parents attempt to control their Autistic (adult) children & that just ain't right.

My attorney will get 25%.

Also:

http://pol.moveon.org/ssmyths/



Of course, that's a year old. God knows what's going on right now.

They deduct for $300 a month my mother used to give me (I keep telling them I'm not getting that but they ignore me) and $200 for the food stamps I used to get (I keep telling them about that, too.)

My mother has contacted a lawyer for me about the SSDI case and he said I won't get it because I went to college and because I had a job for 2 years, and that proves that I wasn't disabled then (I don't know if the lawyer knows what Asperger's is).

I contacted another lawyer online and they won't take my case because I already have SSI.

I don't know what I can do because I have a medication I take that costs more than the $146 (and I told them about that, too and they don't care.) And on the SSI, if some one gives me money that's deducted against my check. I suppose I'll have to apply for the food stamps again if they insist on deducting for it whether I get it or not, but that's not much help since I'm too disorganized to cook on a regular basis, and I'd end up eating stuff like cold cereal 3 meals a day which is bad for my diabetes. (I hate to be a complainer, but in this day and age, I don't know why they won't let you buy cooked food like roast chicken with your food stamps because frankly it's just as cheap or cheaper than home cooking.)

I guess the only way for me to get what I need is to have all sorts of skills for applying for things and constantly contacting agencies, and if I had those skills I'd have been working all these years and wouldn't need the help.

I suppose that if I were a better person I wouldn't mind things like the prospect of homelessness but it's really getting me down.

Nissa, I'll be seeing my disability attorney today. If I remember anything useful that may be applicable here, I'll try to post about it.